How to Access Your Wallet with Mnemonic Phrase

Important Information

We do not recommend that you access your wallet via Mnemonic Phrase.

Why?

Mnemonic Phrases are vulnerable for two reasons:

Theft

To use a Mnemonic phrase means you need to either physically type it into the website or copy&paste to access the wallet. If you enter this information into a fake phishing website, your funds WILL BE STOLEN

Not recoverable if Lost or Forgotten

MyCrypto does not store any information. We only have access to information that is publicly available on the blockchain. Hardware wallets at least give you a chance to restore your wallet if you lose the device using the 12-word seed phrase if you have backed it up correctly.

If you forget the Mnemonic Phrase or lose the file where you saved it, there is almost no guarantee that you will ever gain access back to the wallet

If you printed out your wallet, check to be sure the circles match. They should be the same colors, and shapes. Otherwise, something went wrong and you should start over.

Side Notes

You can share your public wallet address with others so they can send you Ethereum or ERC-20 tokens. Your account will not be compromised, just make sure to send them your PUBLIC wallet address and not your private key.

TIP: If you are planning on holding a large amount of ETH to any wallet, we recommend that you first send a small amount to test first before depositing a large amount.

The Future

While we used the "View & Send" page to access your wallet this time, it is not recommended that you do so in the future. You only need your address in order to see your balance. Do not enter your private key anywhere if you just want to check the balance or see incoming and outgoing transactions.

MyCrypto is a client-side wallet, which means you hold your own keys. If someone gets your private key (keystore file, mnemonic, passwords), they have complete access to your funds. There is no stopping transactions, canceling transactions, or resetting passwords. Once a transaction is on the blockchain, it's final.

For this reason, it is very, very important to keep your private key a secret and use it as rarely as possible. Only enter it on sites after double-checking to be sure you are on the correct site.

MyCrypto is an open-source, client-side tool for generating ether wallets, handling ERC-20 tokens, and interacting with the blockchain more easily. Developed by and for the community since 2015, we’re focused on building awesome products that put the power in people’s hands.